Helpline 1967 Launched to Resolve Paddy Procurement Issues in Andhra Pradesh

 Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government has set up a special control room and introduced a toll-free helpline 1967 to quickly address grievances related to paddy procurement, said minister for food, civil supplies and consumer affairs Nadendla Manohar said on Tuesday.

After inspecting the control room at the Kanuru Civil Supplies Bhavan, Manohar said the government has so far procured 11.93 lakh metric tonnes of paddy from 1,77,934 farmers in the current Kharif season. Payments totalling Rs 2,830 crore have already been credited directly to farmers’ bank accounts, he said.

The helpline will operate Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., enabling farmers to report issues such as registration errors, delayed tokens, weighing disputes at RSKs or rice mills, pending FTOs, shortage of transport or gunny bags, or stoppage of procurement at any centre.

Farmers have been asked to keep their Aadhaar number, registration number, token, village name and RSK details handy before calling. Complaints received will be escalated to concerned officials, who must follow up until full resolution.

District-level civil supplies staff are also contacting farmers, rice millers and RSK operators to identify bottlenecks and issue immediate instructions.

The department's director R. Govinda Rao, administrative manager G. Sirisha, and control room staff participated in the programme.